Very excited for this release, seems like Houdini can now be used for game development at a way affordable price!
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2853&Itemid=66
So delicious! And this bad boy has still has all the meat on his bones, unlike maya lt
Now that is a juicy price. I remember about a year ago testing the demo and the animation features were an absolute wonder to use.
Methinks…methinks…should i buy…should I buy???
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This is a game changer. I longed for this day to come.
RIP Maya LT.
It’s cool, but there’s not a lot of knowledge (tutorials, forums, experienced people, etc) out there about how to do things in Houdini compared to Maya. It’ll take a bit of time to build that up. But, this is definitely going to make it easier for that to happen…
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Just bought Houdini Inide. Cheers! 
Oooh I like that they’re basically using Unity’s $100k/year arrangement too, which is quite fair for indies. Now we just need Autodesk to follow suit
Yeah this is the thing that a lot of people are going to struggle over. Houdini is nothing at all like Maya or really any other 3D application. While you can model directly in it with edit nodes, it’s not quite the same. The real appeal is in the procedural workflows which - being originally aimed at visual effects - are very data-centric, which gives you a lot of power.
It’s nice, it makes you think a lot deeper about what you doing because there are often many ways to achieve the same ends, but as many users will agree it means while complex things can be done easily, simple things can be a chore.
I’d suggest checking out the XSI Users forum section on their website, which was set up as a welcome/primer for Softimage users thinking of switching when the proverbial hit the fan earlier in the year. There’s a lot of talk about ICE, but in particular the modeling improvements threads hilight many of the pros and cons of modeling in Houdini vs traditional software.
Definitely check it out if you’re curious as it is a hard one to put down once it clicks. There’s a ton of tutorial material both on the SideFX website and elsewhere (both commercial & free…quite a few links on the SFX website again). A lot is for older versions - and H14 is due soon - and none is really aimed at games, but most of the workflow principles still apply.
On the subject of H14, there’s supposed to be a UI overhaul, so all or some this might be moot. Interesting times.
Wow this is great news! I will look at some videos of Houdini over the weekend. And hopefully there’s a trial version to actually give it a try.
Just download. The bundle also seems to includes the free Apprentice version. It should be fully functional, but renders with a watermark.
What i heavily dislike is that you have to register with a social account like Google or Facebook. And that they read this content then, to connect it with their database. Not very user friendly to collect all available data. More a second NSA here …
I see there’s a whole site on using Houdini for game development. Including a whole section on Unity.
Unfortunately most of the courses require a membership payment. It’s not that expensive though and may be a quick way to get up and running.
Haha, stopped at install when the software tries to get a license from the license server. A cryptic message pops up: Invalid machine name.
And that was it already with my Houdini experience …
Logging in with social network accounts is optional - you see a lot of it these days as many people just can’t be hassled with moar account logins.
If you go to login, there’s a SideEffects specific option, 1st one in the list.
I’m guessing you’re having a glass is half-full-and-leaky kind of Friday. The forums have a few threads with solutions for licensing issues, if you have the energy 
No option found. And Houdini DID collect all the data from my social account then. There was no option to avoid that one neither.
I’ve been through this licensing issue with Houdini before. It was not the first time i tried to get this baby to work. I’ve even contacted the support back in the days. I run another computer now. And still no go. I guess i will save my energy this time, since it seems that it is still the same disfunctional license server crap as before.
But thanks for the advice 
EDIT, tried a last time after a (not officially required) reboot just for fun, and now the licensing stuff worked. So when somebody else runs into the issue too, try a reboot.
Hi Tiles,
That’s really odd. Like Pix10 mentions, there is a side effects login. You probably need to register for the forums.
@superpig :
Unfortunately, I haven’t used maya in production for over 7 seven years, else I can probably help with maya → houdini tutorials. If not, there are loads of tutorials on CMIVfx and other similar tutorial websites. I’d be interested to know what kind of tutorials would be good for Houdini + Unity - I could whip up some of them.
In other news, I also got my Houdini Indie license key a few minutes ago :3 This is groundbreaking for sure! Not sure what I’m going to use it for as I have Houdini FX in front of me for my day job lol. Supporting SESI I guess
Some FREE! Houdini learning resources:
Kim Goosens procedural modeling lectures
Peter Quint’s Vimeo channel
SideEffects first steps series (check side bar for lots more tutorials)
And ofcourse Odforce the forums there are filled with intelligent disscussion and Houdini files that will help you solve problems and learn. Houdini scene files are a tremendous resource and are much easier to follow, dissect and get in the head of the person who made them than any other scene file I’ve used.
There is a lot more out there for learning Houdini, but this is enough to get started. You can download apprentice for free and get started learning for free.
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Released early enough for SIGGRAPH and Unite… well done!
There will be more exciting Houdini indie news as it relates to unity coming soon. If you are going to Unite, you can find SideFX in space #22 and we are holding a small event. You can request an invite here:
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2817&Itemid=226
User Experience (especially modeling and rendering is being addressed in 14). More SideFX Learning materials for game makers will be created for 14 - until then material is available from gametutor.com.
PS - our login process gets basic info only such as name, email and country. You can opt out of future contacts or remain on email list for updates.
What are the advantages of Houdini vs Blender?
This is really interesting for me too. If somebody got some experiences and would like to share, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks guys!